Wedding Reception

The wedding for my little brother has come and gone and this weekend, we took time out to celebrate their marriage.

They did this their way....

Officially getting married on February 5, 2012.
Having a wedding on April 12, 2012.
and finally the reception on April 29, 2012.

So, if you think about it.. we have been celebrating this union for a while.. which is fine with me.. I love a good family party! However, everything has been kept private... up until now. Their official wedding was just with their preacher. Their wedding only contained their parents and siblings... but now.. the reception was to show everyone that they are officially Mr. & Mrs. Bauer!

The decorations were simple, yet beautiful. I love the idea of the mason jars and the lavender colored flowers. Purple is such a pretty color, yet I never really appreciated it until now.

The food was great and the music was good. It was so nice to visit with friends and family. The only thing missing here was my husband, who is still at work. When the time came to dance and Joshua turned me down not once... but three times... I started feeling sorry for myself because I wanted so desperately to dance with one of my boys... but mostly with John.

The bride and groom dancing:

The cake was beautiful.. and very tasty...

It was a wonderful celebration and I am so happy that Ryan picked Mandi to come into our lives. I have gained not only another family member, but a sister and a true friend. It makes me so happy that we took out almost a month's time to celebrate and be happy for both of them.

I think every wedding from here on out should last a month! It really gives you time to be thankful for the beautiful new relationship you are gaining.


"The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart."



Super Cape

I have been very slowly getting ready for Joshua's birthday party in July. I am making a lot of the decorations myself and I have to make at least 24 capes...so I have a lot of work in front of me.

My first thing I decided to start on... was the capes... I mean I have to make 24 of them!! So I went to Hobby Lobby in search of some felt. Of course, they didn't have any, so the lady suggested a different material.

I bought a yard and was on my home to make a no-sew cape.

I am going to have to find another material because it is fraying much more than I hoped, but Joshua was in love with his new cape.

Yesterday, we had a fight with the cape... it went a little like this...


Joshua: "I am wearing my cape to school to show my friends."

Me: "No your not."

Joshua: "Yes I am."

Me: "Your teacher will take it away from you, and when she does, you won't get it back.. or worse..  your friends will tear it and I won't be able to fix it, and you just wont have a cape."

Joshua: "I will kick my teacher in the knee."

Me: "EXCUSE ME??  You will do what?  We don't ever hurt anybody and we especially don't kick them in the knees. That's not nice to do to your teacher."

Joshua: "I know, I wasn't REALLY going to do it, but you get too mad."

Me: "Because your talking about kicking a teacher in the knee!!"

Joshua: "No I wasn't. But I am still wearing my cape to school."

Me: "You can wear it in the car. You can go inside the school and show your friends and then you can take it off and I will take it home with me."

Joshua: "No Mom! That is not very cool.. a superhero always needs his cape."

Me: "I honestly don't care ... let's go Super Joshua!"

Joshua: "I'm not Super Joshua!"


So we get in the car, and all the way there he tells me hes wearing his cape and that I am NOT taking it away from him.   ... and I just ignore him.

We get into his class and all his friends run up to him saying things like...
"Are you a super hero?"
"What kind of cape is that?"
"Why are you wearing a cape?"
"Are you Spiderman?"


Of course, the whole time they are doing this, they are pulling on his cape.. which is pulling on Joshua's neck.


Finally Joshua turns to me and says...

"Mom. You can't take my cape home. I don't want my friends to break it."


I smile...

Mom - 324
Joshua-15

hahaha... just kidding.. I don't keep score.


Have a Super Weekend!

Awesomeness

So I was totally going to write this super great post today.. about how awesome I am... (blah! Just Kidding!!).... but I am so lame and so tired from my new diet I started today.

I feel great!! Just tired. I exercised at the gym today.. came home and mowed the yard... took a nap... and ate all the right things today.  I even got my water in... (yucky water!)....   but my body is tired, and my mind is a little fuzzy... fuzzy as in.... "I wanna veg out in front of the TV and watch Food Network to sulk over all the Awesome food I can't eat!!"   ... but then I realized Diners, Dive In and Drives.. or whatever.. is on.. and it's my least favorite show.

And that brings me to where I am.. wanting to write a post about the meaning of life.. about all the awesomeness that was this weekend... yet my brain is saying...  "Veg Out... You deserve it!"


So in an attempt to keep up with my blogging a few days a week... I will posting a short, non meaningful post with lots of pictures.

First though.. I want to tell you.. My new computer is awesome!! That is why I feel so far behind on my blog, because both of my other computers took a dive.. I mean.. one was 9 years old and the other one was almost 5... so the new computer is well deserved.  Although... its super fast once powered up, but seriously... it takes like 3 minutes to boot up.. is that normal with these crazy super computers?


Ok.. Picture time!!


Little man cutting up some watermelon.. don't worry .. it's a kids butter knife...

I know he was trying to help, but he chopped it into pieces that were so small... they were a big pile of wet mush the next day...

Saturday morning he asked for Coffee.... Coffee?  Who in this family drinks Coffee??

I do on occasion... but my coffee maker is safely packed away under the cabinet.

This however is.. Chocolate Almond Milk... AKA... Kid Coffee.

That afternoon we tried to have a lunch out on the porch, but it was 60 degrees.. and windy... In Texas.  Normally by April we are sweating to tune of 80 degrees and running around half naked. This morning though.. we wore jackets... and spent a total of 5 minutes outside before our fingers were frozen and we decided to take out picnic inside.

And Today, after I mowed the yard, I decided to fix our lopsided tree and remove a branch.. or two... I hope this tree survives my black thumb, and that my husband isn't too upset with me.

And then, in the awesomeness of all awesomeness.. this little dude clung on for dear life as I drove to pick Joshua up at school... and back home.  He stayed on the truck and had the ride of his life.

Now Joshua thinks he is our pet.

And the last little tidbit of the day....

Joshua went to school today and had music class.

He told me..

"They had a Daddy guitar."
"They had a Mommy guitar."
"They had a baby guitar."
"So it was a family!!"
"But, they didn't have a cat guitar! So Garfield can't pay!"



And that is it folks! Happy Monday!

Picnic In The Park

Since John is not able to be home right now, (best husband in the world!) I have been trying to think of things that I can do with Joshua that aren't too costly and that we have already done as a family before. I really want John to be here for every 'first' that he can be, so I decided to keep it simple and take Joshua to the park.

It was a beautiful, windy day.. almost too windy, but I was glad that the wind kept us cool and the bugs stayed away.  It was the perfect day for a picnic.

This park is very large and has all kinds of kid friendly areas that have age ranges on them from under 1 year up to year 12.

Joshua's favorite?  The splash pad!! It was a little cool outside, but he braved the cold and ran through the water trying to splash everyone and anyone in his way. He had a blast.

After playing on the splash pad, we crossed the bridge to change back into our regular clothing so that we could continue to play on some of the awesome jungle gyms they have.

Such a wonderfully beautiful day!

"A boy is Truth with dirt on it's face, Beauty with a cut on its finger, Wisdom with bubble gum in its hair, and the Hope of the future with a frog in its pocket."

The Egg Hunters

"The Easter Bunny came by today and left surprises along the way. Colorful eggs are all around with baskets in hand we search the ground."

After a exciting morning with the Bunny presents, mini egg hunt and church, we changed into comfy clothes and headed over to my Brother and Sister in laws house. My Sister in law is a amazing cook and HER mother flew in from Missouri for the holiday and they cooked together...   so.. the food was AMAZING!!

I am so glad to have such a wonderful extended family. They are kind and generous people that have same morals and values that we grew up with.

So, they are easy to talk to, easy to get along with...  so this family get together was Perfect!



This is Grayson, he is Mandi's nephew and a ham with the camera.

Joshua received a basket from Grayson and his parents, Aunt Sarah and Uncle Matt.

He got tons of really cool candy and small toys, but of course, Joshua was more interested in Grayson's tiny fire truck and fire house.

Then, he received a second basket from Aunt Mandi and Uncle Ryan. This one had all kinds of goodies too including 2 movies and Lego's!

Then it was time for another egg hunt... you think he would be tired of hunting eggs... but no way!!! These eggs had prizes in every single one of them.. including money. Joshua found about $16 worth of dollar bills and coins.

This is Joshua, Grayson, and a family friend, John, getting ready to hunt.

I believe Joshua got something like 64 eggs... I don't know.. there were so many I lost count... it may have been more. I know Aunt Mandi got over excited and bought like 200 eggs.. but I don't think they all got filled.

She is just preparing for years to come when they have their own children..Sarah and Matt have more........  and John and I have more...

Here is Joshua and his eggs..

Aunt Mandi and Uncle Ryan have a cute little tree swing.. so we took the opportunity to have a mini photo shoot with both of their nephews.

Then we had a confetti egg fight... the only pictures I can seem to find of it though is poor little Grayson, who couldn't figure out what we were doing to him. He was a good sport though.

Finally, it was time to go swimming...

Of course my kid was in the pool first. I think Joshua learned to swim and splash in the water even before he could walk. I am a water/beach baby... and I think he is too...

Uncle Ryan was a good sport and got in the swimming pool to help keep the boys under control... and Grayson above the water.

While they did that... we had dessert... because the good lord knows... it isn't a party without some yummy desserts!!

And finally.. our bellies were full... our hearts felt loved on this special day... and we were just plain out tired from all the activities... it was time to go home.

What a wonderful glorious day! I hope we make this a tradition every year.